Much to my schadenfreude-lusting dismay, the Pussycat Dolls reality show that is currently airing while VM is on hiatus is not only not an abysmal failure, but is actually somewhat of an early CW triumph.

The show gave the fledgling netlet its best-ever ratings in the Tuesday 9 p.m. time slot, beating ABC, CBS and NBC and coming in second for the hour in coveted CW demos like adults and women 18-34. Crucially, the Pussycat Dolls also built on its Gilmore Girls lead-in, improving 29% in teens and 26% in female teens, a feat Veronica Mars has little hope of accomplishing.

What could this spell for VM's fate? Reality shows rarely run for more than half of a scripted series' season, so it's unlikely that VM will simply be replaced wholesale by (shudder) a 22-episode Pussycat Dolls series. However, the fact that the CW has now tasted such success in Tuesdays at 9 means that the ratings standard has suddenly been boosted a lot higher. They have proof that there is programming that can perform better than VM has been doing. In fact, it's even possible, if Pussycat Dolls sustains its degree of success, that the final episodes of Veronica Mars may even be pre-empted in favor of a couple of montage and reunion installments. Remember, compared to any scripted series, reality shows are relatively cheap and easy to produce.

My office is pretty shameless about pop culture riffraff (we've spent an embarrassing quantity of time speculating on the father of Anna Nicole's baby... come to think of it, her case would make for an excellent VM mystery arc), but I've also seen VM DVD sets circulating among people, so there's hope. I think our show operates on a person-by-person word-of-mouth, as opposed to the mass conversion of trashy reality shows.